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EDITOR’S NOTE: In the lead-up to the National Day of Honour on May 9, we take a look back at Canada’s 12-year mission to Afghanistan.

* * *

It is a warm, sunny day in a spring that has seen little of either and a crowd is teeming in front of the Salvation Army shelter on George Street.

Knots of men crowd the sidewalk. There is loud banter and laughter, the snippet of a song being sung somewhere (Blame it on the Stones, strangely enough).

Maybe the weather is why three police officers who suddenly round a corner and approach the shelter are greeted so warmly. Cheered and applauded like rock stars. Given pats on the back as they approach the front doors.

Although beat cops don’t normally get this warm a reception. Even on the best of spring days.

So there must be another reason for the cheers. And you don’t have to wait long to see it: Trailing the three cops down the street are two other people.

One woman, one man. Both dressed in camouflage uniforms.

As they climb the stairs of the shelter a man opens a door and salutes.

There was a time when Veterans Affairs Canada stopped one unqualified-denial shy of saying there was no such thing as homeless veterans in Canada. Former Veterans Ombudsman Pat Stogran — who served in that post from 2007-2010 — remembers those days well.

“Homeless veterans were an embarrassment to the government and nobody wanted to talk about it,” he says.

“Whenever I asked someone about the issue I was told that was an American problem. Not something that happened here. I was getting the story mixed up.”

Stogran got so fed up with that answer he left his downtown Ottawa office one day, walked six blocks to the nearest shelter, and found some vets. (It’s hard for even the most skilled of government bureaucrats to deny a problem when it is marched right into their office.)

So the problem was conceded, although how prevalent it might be is still debated. There are simply no reliable statistics. The information is anecdotal. Or in reference to something else (one study puts the percentage of homeless people in Toronto with military service at 16%. In the United States, the national average is 26%.)

Local figures, not surprisingly, are even more difficult to nail down. And what we have comes from Soldiers Helping Soldiers, the group making the rounds of Ottawa’s emergency shelters this spring afternoon.

Capt. Ryan was there when the group formed. The summer of 2012 and she and other members of the Canadian Forces were in the Byward Market as part of a public awareness campaign for Soldier On, a Forces program for injured veterans. While in the Market several men approached her to say they had also served.

“It was quite an eye opener,” remembers Ryan. “Some of these men were clearly down on their luck. Die-hard street people. But they were also ex-military. It touched me greatly.”

It also became obvious, as the day wore on, that the men were coming over because of Ryan’s uniform. It was the uniform that let the men know they were talking to someone with a shared background.

“What was basically happening, is these men were self identifying as ex-military,” remembers Ryan. “And it occurred to us that you could try all sorts of ways to reach these people, but if you really wanted to find them maybe the best thing to do was put on a uniform and walk through a shelter.”

* * *

We are in the cafeteria of the Salvation Army shelter, a windowless, basement room with rows of wooden tables. At one table sits Capt. Ryan and her partner this day, Sgt.-Major Glenn Rojeski

Now maybe it is a skill you learn after doing this a few times, but I was there to see Ryan and Rojeski walk through the doors of this cafeteria, crane their necks to inspect the crowd (and it is quite a crowd) then make their way immediately to this table.

Where three Inuk from Iqaluit were sitting. It was Ryan who began the conversation.

“How are you gentlemen today?”

The men nodded their heads and flashed gap-toothed smiles. Doing well. It’s spring.

“I’m here today with Soldiers Helping Soldiers,” Ryan continues. “We’re looking for people who may have served in the Canadian Forces. Have you gentlemen ever served?”

“No,” says Robert Ukalianuc, the oldest looking of the three men. “I was never in the army.” He turned to look at his companions and they shook their heads sadly, ashamed to have the wrong answer.

“Not even the Rangers?” asks Ryan.

All three men seemed to brighten at the same time.

“Yes, the Rangers. I did the Rangers,” says Ukalianuc and he turned to look at his friends, who were already nodding happily. They all served, at one time or another, in Canada’s northern reserve unit.

“Well, that’s military service,” says Ryan, sitting down at the table, Rojeski sitting beside her and opening a file folder. “You may be eligible for some help. I have some forms with me today, if you’re interested.”

* * *

The Ottawa Police Service has been part of Soldiers Helping Soldiers since the program began.

“They approached us to see if we could help them get into the shelters,” says Det. Mark Bouwmeester. “We all loved the idea. I volunteered as soon as I heard about it.”

Bouwmeester spent 10 years with a military police reserve unit, so he was a natural choice to be the police liaison for the group. Helping him make rounds this day are Constables Adam Grundy and Jenny Campbell, patrol officers with Central Division.

“I’ve been here for every walk-about, and it’s incredible to see what happens,” says Bouwmeester.

“People walk right up to the soldiers, in a way they wouldn’t for someone else. And the stories you hear, the people you meet, it’s quite amazing.”

Although they don’t have current figures, after roughly a year in operation, Soldiers Helping Soldiers had identified and helped about 50 homeless veterans in Ottawa.

The volunteer members of the program (who are all currently serving members of the Canadian Forces) track down people in shelters who may be eligible for programs, benefits — in some cases even pensions — from Veterans Affairs.

Last year, the group helped one former soldier who had spent years struggling with bad eyes get a pair of prescription glasses. Helped others find apartments. Helped several in poor health get beds at the Perley-Rideau Veterans Health Centre.

Why do they do it?

“The role of a sergeant major is to look after his troops. This is the same thing,” says Rojeski. “I don’t see Soldiers Helping Soldiers being any different from what I’ve been doing the past 30 years.”

Ryan takes the soldiers helping soldiers argument (she is actually air force) one step further. Yes, this is no different from what most Canadian Forces personnel do during their day.

“It’s also what we were doing in Afghanistan,” she says. “Programs like Soldiers Helping Soldiers, it’s a natural extension of the work we did in Afghanistan. What we have been doing the past twelve years. What is now a tradition with the Canadian Forces.

“We’re still helping people. It’s just that we’re back home now, so we’re helping people in a place like the Salvation Army shelter, not a village in Afghanistan.”

* * *

When we leave the Salvation Army shelter. Ryan and Rojeski have application forms from half-a-dozen men. First thing Monday morning, they’ll start making phone calls to see if Veterans’ Affairs can help them.

The three Inuk men are looking like the highlight of this day’s round of emergency shelters. They had everyone in stitches when they started talking about the rifles they were given as Rangers (they had better hunting guns at home).

Was Ryan sure the Canadian government could afford to help them? They didn’t want her to be embarrassed.

But then as we walk down the steps of the shelter, Ryan gives a short gasp and runs to a man standing on the sidewalk. The man sees her coming and waves. They talk for a minute and when she leaves the man gives her a hug.

“What was that all about?” I ask.

“I’ve been looking for him for months,” she says. “He told me last fall he hadn’t spoken to his family in seven years. They were estranged.

“I managed to track down his sister and she told me she’d love to hear from him.”

I cast a glance over my shoulder. I see the man has started to cry.

A straight-line extension from the Afghanistan Mission. Maybe she’s right.

The search for Ottawa's homeless vets

REMEMBERING AFGHANISTAN:

EDITOR’S NOTE: In the lead-up to the National Day of Honour on May 9, we take a look back at Canada’s 12-year mission to Afghanistan.

* * *

It is a warm, sunny day in a spring that has seen little of either and a crowd is teeming in front of the Salvation Army shelter on George Street.

Knots of men crowd the sidewalk. There is loud banter and laughter, the snippet of a song being sung somewhere (Blame it on the Stones, strangely enough).

Maybe the weather is why three police officers who suddenly round a corner and approach the shelter are greeted so warmly. Cheered and applauded like rock stars. Given pats on the back as they approach the front doors.

Although beat cops don’t normally get this warm a reception. Even on the best of spring days.